[Mark Rabinowitz] Over at All These Wonderful Things, AJ Schnack posts about his favorite (and worthy) topic, craft in documentary films, this time using Lynne Hershman Leeson's excellent "Strange Culture" as a subject as written about in Shaun Huston's post on PopMatters. There are two main questions surrounding this film, one of which being "when is a doc not a doc and does 'Strange Culture' take too many liberties with re-enactments for it to be called a documentary?" The other one, which AJ seems more concerned with is about the art in the filmmaking process itself, to wit:

"But if pressed, I'd say that the true worth of a hybrid film like "Strange Culture" is not in whether Steve Kurtz' story is worth telling (or whether audiences 'need to know' about his plight) but in the artistic choices made by Hershman Leeson. Kurtz' story may be good, valuable or even important, but without an artist behind the lens, the worth of Kurtz' tale may be lost on all but the most like-minded and agreeable viewers."

As for me, I am of two minds. It's been some time since I saw the film, but I remember being rather dubious about it, going in. After seeing it and learning about its subjects, of whom I had been previously unaware, I had to admit that not only was the film a worthy project, but it was a bona fide example of the growth (evolution?) of the documentary form. As for AJ's conclusion above, I think it may be a sad truth that filmmakers without the desire or ability to make more artistically ambitious films may just get lumped into the "like-minded and agreeable viewers" category, at least when they are about challenging or politically "dangerous" topics.

I'd like to think there is room for neophyte audience acceptance for the more standard "reportage" style of doc making but considering the state of the doc box office of late, filmmakers might just have to go that extra mile. Mind you, that's not necessarily a bad thing. What I do believe is that style sans substance is far worse of a crime against the documentary form that the other way around.